A review by popthebutterfly
Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams

4.5

 

Disclaimer: I got this copy from the library. Support your local libraries! All opinions are my own. 

 

Book: Practice Makes Perfect 

 

Author: Sarah Adams 

 

Book Series: When in Rome 2 

 

Rating: 4.5/5 

 

Spice Rating: 1/5 

 

Diversity: MC with Social Anxiety, gay couple background characters 

 

Recommended For...: Adult Readers, Contemporary, Romance, Contemporary Romance, Chick Lit, Closed Door Romance, Fade to Black Romance, New Adult 

 

Publication Date: May 2, 2023 

 

Genre: Contemporary Romance 

 

Age Relevance: 17+ (alcohol consumption, sexual content, romance, language, grief, sickness, parental death, emotional abuse) 

 

Explanation of Above: There are scenes showing alcohol consumption. Romance and very slight sexual content is shown. The book is fade to black romance. There is some slight cursing. There are scenes showing grief and discussing parental death that happened offscreen. There are scenes showing sickness and mentioning vomit. Emotional abuse by parents is detailed in a scene. 

 

Publisher: Dell 

 

Pages: 335 

 

Synopsis: Annie Walker is on a quest to find her perfect match—someone who complements her happy, quiet life running the local flower shop in Rome, Kentucky. But finding her dream man may be harder than Annie imagined. Everyone knows everyone in her hometown, and the dating prospects are getting fewer by the day. After she overhears her latest date say she is “so unbelievably boring,” Annie starts to think the problem might be her. Is it too late to become flirtatious and fun like the leading ladies in her favorite romance movies? Maybe she only needs a little practice . . . and Annie has the perfect person in mind to be her tutor: Will Griffin. 

 

Will—the sexy, tattooed, and absolutely gorgeous bodyguard—is temporarily back in Rome, providing security for Amelia Rose as excitement builds for her upcoming marriage to Noah Walker, Annie’s brother. He has one personal objective while on the job: stay away from Annie Walker and any other possible attachments to this sleepy town. But no sooner than he gets settled, Will finds himself tasked with helping Annie find the love of her life by becoming the next leading lady of Rome, Kentucky. Will wants no part in changing the sweet and lovely Annie. He knows for a fact that some stuffy, straitlaced guy won’t make her happy, but he doesn’t have the heart to say no. 

 

Amid steamy practice dates and strictly “educational” tutoring lessons, Annie discovers there are more layers to Will’s usual stoic attitude. As the lines of their friendship become dangerously blurred, Annie reconsiders her dream guy. Maybe her love life doesn’t need to be perfect—it just needs to be real. 

 

Review: I thought overall that this was a very cute book, especially if you were looking for a romance book that doesn't have a lot of heavy sex scenes or really any sex scenes in it. This book focuses on Annie who is the sister of Noah from the previous book When in Rome. And it also focuses on her love interest, Will, who works with Amelia, also from the last book. The book is a fade-to-black romance book which means that you won't get any graphic detail about sexual content and anything that is in the book potentially is very slightly mentioned. I thought the book was really engaging and I really liked it, moreso over When in Rome. I really connected with Annie as I also have social anxiety and I just thought that their love was super cute and romantic. I thought that the writing style had dramatically improved since the previous book and the world building was so much more in depth in this book. 
 
 The only thing I can really fault the book on was that I thought that it could use a little more at the end. It just kind of went that they got together (spoiler alert, but this is the romance book lol). And then it was over. I just wanted like a little bit more at the end and I wanted maybe some of the middle fluff cut out. 

 

Verdict: Overall I really liked it.